birdy_mat

hi im from down aus......

just wondering when the mountains open at mammoth and bear mountains.

cant seem to find any dates on the websites

cheers mat

snowklinger

shortly after it starts snowing.

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is it late october yet?

HoboMaster

Depends on the year, it's a matter of when they have enough snow to open.

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PowderHound and TreeNinja

baseline6

Mammoth is typically open before thanksgiving as I believe they full up a couple park runs with man made. Bear as well fills up a couple park runs with man made but because they have a lower elevation it really depends on the temps. Best time to hit those places up in early season is 2nd week of december. I typically hit them up in nov and its nothing special. I strongly suggest if you go to bear wait until January and go during the week. The red bull park and the scene are too epic to miss if its your 1st time at bear.

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jdang307

They open early due to snowmaking but let me tell you. Even though I'm Jonesing for snow I don't go until at least around Christmas because I don't feel like driving to go down one run. If I lived closer sure but it's 2-2.5 hrs to bear without traffic from San Diego.

This year I don't think even Mammoth had good coverage for a while. Well, hell almost nobody did. But if it dumps this year perhaps it will.

FacePlant4Free

OMG it's still summer and I already can't wait!

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Park Pickle / GNU Chice

1

Donutz

If you don't have a closer hill than that, you have my sympathies. I'm amazed at some of the distances people drive on a regular basis to get their fix. 40 min for me, which is shorter than my work commute. If I had to drive to/from Whistler (equivalent) every weekend I'd go nutz.

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Illegitimi non carborundum

Mountain Days: 30

HoboMaster

Did the weekend warrior thing every Sunday when I lived in the Bay Area, 3 hours to Tahoe each way. Thankfully those days are long gone.

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PowderHound and TreeNinja

jdang307

San Diego. Yeah, I love it here. Sunny all year, moderate temps, hot chicks. Not too shabby.

But it's 2.5 hours to Bear mountain. Great for park, but gets pretty boring quickly.

HoboMaster, at least those 3 hours gets you to some really cool places. Sierra, Squaw, Alpine, Northstar, etc.

Closest major resort is Mammoth and that's 6-7. Yeah price I pay to live in a nice beach city.

gstboy

Is Kirkwood the closest resort from the Bay Area. I've never been to Tahoe but will be driving up from Stockton in December. I figure it's two hours from Stockton but how close are the other resorts to Kirkwood, not sure how Kirkwood is but would it be better to keep on driving to another resort?